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There is no history to support this, no logic for it to make any baseball sense at all.

But get this — the backs-against-the-wall Blue Jays have the Cleveland Indians right where they want them.

Right where they want them trailing 3-1 in the American League Championship Series and facing elimination again Wednesday afternoon.

This best of seven series, seemingly over after the seemingly lifeless Jays were beaten and beat themselves in Game 3, is now very much alive, against all odds, against almost everything that has happened in the history of the game.

The Blue Jays are alive, with a pulse, with a racing heart, and bats coming, with an opportunity to push this series back to Cleveland — and, who knows, maybe to a seventh game.

It wasn’t just a victory for the Jays against the Indians on Tuesday afternoon that changed everything. It was how they won. It was how Cleveland lost. It was the role reversal. It was confidence building. It was the stars coming out to play and those who aren’t doing there part. It was Terry Francona, no longer perfect with every decision he made.

And, maybe, more importantly, it was Josh Donaldson, with bat, with glove, with arm, with voice. And now the match-ups favour the Blue Jays.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Jays send their playoff ace, Marco Estrada, to the mound to face a minor-league somebody named Ryan Merritt, who seemed nervous doing interviews Tuesday, never mind starting Wednesday. The Jays players admit they know very little about Merritt but one player who has faced him in the minors said “he’s got nothing.”

After Game 5 at home, believing there is an after, there is J.A. Happ to pitch in Game 6 against Josh Tomlin and for Game 7, if there is a Game 7, the Jays will go to Marcus Stroman, with the possibility of Aaron Sanchez coming out of the bullpen. If they get that far.

Still a big if. But a possibility that didn’t seem likely a day ago.

Getting to Game 5 was a start. A huge start for the on-the-ropes Jays. “It was win or go home,” said relief pitcher Jason Grilli. “And we don’t want to go home yet.”

Brett Cecil, the longest serving Blue Jay, understands. He came to the ballpark Tuesday with so much in flux. His season. Their season. His time with the Blue Jays. His future. All of it so unclear. And from his place in the bullpen he saw Donaldson dive, make a terrific stab at a ball hit by Carlos Santana that would have scored a run, got back to his feet, and ended the inning with a terrific throw.

The Jays led 2-1 at the time. The Santana hit, had it not been taken away by Donaldson, was going for a base hit. That would have tied the game.

Instead it changed the game. Maybe the series.

“They say we feed off the fan’s energy, but I think we feed off each other,” said Cecil. “He hit the homer and you could tell he was pumped. And we were pumped. And it trickles down to all the players.”

Almost everything that went wrong for the Jays in the first three games turned around in the fourth game. They hit a home run, their forte. They made some sterling infield plays, one by Donaldson, one by Ryan Goins, both saving runs. Then they got to the Francona’s bullpen, which they haven’t really touched through three games. They got two hits off Dan Otero. They got two runs off Bryan Shaw. They got another run off Mike Clevenger.

The Indians had no hits in the final four innings, one hit in the final six innings. The Jays got their first lead of the series and never relinquished it.

“We need the lead,” said Grilli. “If we score runs, we win. That’s the bottom line. This team is too powerful to stop one it gets going.”

Donaldson hit the homer, made the great play in the field and was intentionally walked by Francona in the seventh inning of a 2-1 game. Francona chose to walk the bases loaded and pitch to Edwin Encarnacion, hoping for a double play.

“It’s pick your poison,” said Russell Martin, the Jays catcher. Encarnacion lined a ball to right centre field that scored a run. The Jays didn’t just have a lead, they had a three-run lead. “We needed that. Josh brought his A-game and we needed his A-game. And the rest just followed suit.”

Sanchez pitched superbly, lasting six innings. After that, Cecil, Grilli and Roberto Osuna didn’t allow a hit in three innings. Encarnacion had two hits and two RBIs. Michael Saunders had two hits. Ezequiel Carerra had two hits and almost had three, were it not for a terrific catch by Lonnie Chisenhall. Kevin Pillar knocked in a run. Ryan Goins was on base twice.

A team win. The return of the Blue Jays. Maybe for a day. Maybe for a lot longer.